jackpot: Online resource TRAILS

TRAILS: Tools for real-time assessment of information literacy skills 

A project of Kent State library

http://www.trails-9.org/index.php?page=home

accessed this date

count:  6 pages

Eureka! an online tool that allows K-12 students and librarians to easily assess research skills as compared to Ohio Academic Content Standards and the American Association of School Librarians' Information Power and Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.

This resource will allow me to utilize an educationally proven, consistent and quantifiable pre- and post-test for an experimental study in library instruction. 

And did I mention, it's free?? (funded by multiple organizations, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the U.S. Department of Education.

What did researchers do before the Internet? We should be SO much more efficient now, and SO much more productive.

online news article: Library Instruction pilot

This article, also in response to a search for help measuring student research skills, proved to be more current -- and a quicker read =) than the subject of the immediately previous post. I also found it to be more practical.

"Library instruction pilot improves research skills"

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Rebecca Starkey, Librarian for College Instruction and Outreach

University of Chicago Library News 

count: 1 page

Starkey reported on a pilot that measured the effectiveness of a pilot program integrating library search skills within specific courses at UC. Of value to my needs was a list of specific skills for which the program provided significant help:

• Finding Articles from Citations
• Identifying Materials at Other Libraries 
• Indexes vs. JSTOR

While the program was specific to the post-secondary environment, I believe I could modify specifics to create a simple rubric for high school work.

online document: Measuring research skills

As part of my reading for a possible dissertation study, I am reading about measuring high school students' skills in research and information literacy. (a bottomless pit for the unwary reader).

This particular post refers to a document I found online:

Measuring Student Knowledge and Skills: A new framework for assessment

OECD Programme For International Student Assessment, 2000

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/45/32/33693997.pdf  (accessed this date)

count: 32 pages

 The document itself is 85 pages, but I found the intro material and the section on Literacy to be relevant to my purpose.

The document is dated, but the concept of an international group, seeking a real-life assessment of skills our students need to succeed, was new to me. I found several of their definitions of literacy, and descriptors of specific literacy skills, to be possibly helpful for my learning and use. Pretty solid stuff that echoes much of what we are hearing about authentic assessment of skills.

web page: Using Pinterest

"How to Use Pinterest to Win Contests and Sweepstakes: Tips for Using Pinterest to Improve Your Chances to Win"

By Sandra Grauschopf, About.com Guide

count: 1 page

This seems an unlikely source, but the article tying Pinterest to a practical use caught my eye.

The article reports that vendors are targeting the use of Pinterest to (of course) market their wares. 

Additionally the author suggests using Pinterest as a visual, digital organizer that tracks what contests you've entered, which ones you have won, and so on.

Conclusion is, "In short, Pinterest is a fun way to improve your chances to win sweepstakes, both directly, by offering a new way to enter sweepstakes, and indirectly, by helping to keep you inspired to keep entering, even when you're suffering through dry spells."

Not a very meaty article: content seems pretty intuitively. Not recommended.

blog post: Multimedia Textbook

"Smart History – Multimedia Textbook for Art and History"

Lannon Heflin
ESC Region XIII

post dated March 26, 2012
 

count: 1 page

Lannon serves as the technology guru from Texas' Educational Service Center for Region 13. In that capacity he often posts and shares about issues and resources for K-12 teachers, including news, updates and instruction for the Texas Education Agency's (TEA) Project Share.
 

Today he touched on the same topic I have been reading about, the Khan Academy, whose resources Lannon considers "increasingly awesome."Today's focus is on the Academy's "SmartHistory," which Lannon describes as an "engaging ... multimedia alternative to Art History textbooks." 

I'm hearing more about the Khan Academy (and in particular, digital textbooks via iPads) than I can find time to share with the folks at my district. 

Wow. Maybe if there is smoke, ....

TED Video: Using video to reinvent education

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education

TED: Ideas worth spreading 

Filmed and posted March 2011

count: 20 pages (20:27 video)

A natural follow-up to the previous post about flipping the classroom, this video records Kahn (originator of the original scope-and-sequence math videos) presenting at TED.

He shares the free, online Kahn Academy website and the opportunity and resources it offers to reinvent the way we do education.

Some cogent take-aways:

• videos let folks learn at their own pace and time

• use the game learning strategy: we'll generate as many questions as you need until you get that concept.
• Fundamental assessment: get 10 in a row and move on. Software automatically forwards you to more and more advanced modules. (Concepts are mapped.)
• Viewing the videos frees up time for the classroom, to make teacher-student interaction as productive as possible.
• Tremendous source of live data reflecting competencies and lacks thereof for the students.
• Goal is to humanize instruction.
• Not focusing on student to teacher ratio, but rather student to valuable-human-time-with-the-teacher ratio.

The Kahn Academy's goal: a global one-world classroom. 
The moderator, Bill Gates, closed with these words: "I think you've just seen the future of education."

blog post: Flipping the classroom

Donald Clark Plan B

"Flip the classroom -- every teacher should do this"

count: 1 page

(click here for blog post)

A great explanation of what flipping means as well as a compelling apologetic for the why and the how of the process:

Don’t use technology in the classroom, use it before and after, outside of the classtoom (sic). Classrooms were never designed for technology, apart, perhaps, for Whiteboards. But the danger with whiteboards is that they reinforce talking at students and ‘lecturing’. Flip the classroom. Assign the short talks for homework, THEN use the classroom for the application of the concepts. The net result is that you humanise the classroom. It becomes a place primarily for learning, not teaching. Simple, but like most great ideas - brilliant.

The details of Clark's discussion bears strong relation to Marc Prensky's concept of partnering: let each party do what they do best, and save the class time for coaching. Forget big summative evaluations -- use the gaming model, the " magic dust from games," where immediate and effective feedback is given.

Makes me want to get back to the classroom -- but not under today's testing mindset.

textbook reading, continued

I continue to record the pages read in Educational Technology for School Leaders, edited by Lynne Schrum (Corwin Press, 2012)

for the Textbook Reading Chunk 2, count: 72 pages

These chapters are reprised at http://textbookreadings.jimdo.com/

web biography: R. David Lankes

http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/about.php

As part of my course work, I am learning more about library leader and thinker, R. David Lankes. 

Referred to as a library futurist, Dr. Lankes presents an exemplary mix of librarianship, information science, and technology advances. 

His website reports that he is "a professor and Dean's Scholar for the New Librarianship at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies

Today I am reading from his web site and learning about him personally and about his work. These will be curated (if I dare call my work by that elevated term) at my Scoop.it site.

(My virtual apologies to him for the typos in the email I sent him earlier.)

count for today's readings: 6 pages

journal page: UConn library and students

"UConn Discovers What Students Want From Their Library"

By Meredith Schwartz 

Library Journal online article Mar 21, 2012

count: 1 page

Results from a study by the University of Connecticut Libraries Undergraduate Education Team yielded some interesting data about their patrons. "The assessment used a mix of quantitative methods (an online survey) with qualitative ones (focus groups, a filmed interview and a student-made short film." 

In bullet-form, some nuggets:

• The popular term "Learning Commons" means little to the students;
• Students have little knowledge of, or interest in, reference services. They prefer signage.
• 58% said they would never, or unlikely ever, ask a question by text/SMS/MMS/Web. 
• 80% of the students reported that they never, or only once a semester, ask for help from a librarian in person.
• The preferred pathway to library support was electronically, and preferably through the online course interface. Since the findings, the library has set-up direct access through this means.
• Research help is moving to focus on live chat.
• And the formerly known as Learning Commons has a new name: Homer One. 
• Physical changes to the library are being made as well, in response to student requests for more power outlets and more room to spread out while studying.

Presentation slides: "Re-envisioning Pedagogy: Educators as curators"

Presentation given at SXSWedu on March 6, 2012

by Corinne Weisgerber, Ph.D.

Shannan Butler, Ph.D.

St. Edward’s University
@corinnew, @shannanbutler

count: 48 pages (48 slides shared through SlideShare.net, with an infinite number of links and people to follow and explore)  

I finally have a great definition of today's buzz word, curation. And thanks to the rabbit trails I followed through this reading, I met Mark Moran and Corinne Weisgerber, and was directed once again to Buffy Hamilton's great Unquiet Librarian blog. 

According to Mark on Buffy's blog: “... curation” is more than recommending an occasional article that comes across your screen; it involves finding, evaluating and synthesizing a wide range of resources about a topic from around the world and across the ages that collectively convey a full understanding of it. It’s a very elegant form of “re-mixing.”

This slideshare document posits the business of curation within an education setting. Weisgerber and Butler lay out and discuss the steps, making the process very accessible. 

Did you know there is even a curation about curating? Of course there is. Check out Barbara Bray's Scoop.it topic. Ah-maz-ing. And an endless rabbit hole of discovery.

website: "Finding Dulcinea"

"Our mission is to bring users the best information on the Web for any topic, employing human insight and methodical review."

Finding Dulcinea: The librarian for the Internet

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/

Mark Moran, Founder and CEO

count: 8 pages

In particular I am reading the site's resources about Child Soldiers and its reasoned response to the Kony 2012 viral meme (a three-part series on KONY 2012 as a teachable moment, at this link).

I find it telling that this organization as well as others have been documenting the phenomenon of child soldiers in Africa for several years now. The articles give the issue both context and validity -- and offer a balance to the organization Invisible Children which published the most recent and most viral focus on the problem.

The great value of the site, for me, lies in its educational offerings for students and classes who want to explore, follow, and act on best information available.

video: "Kony 2012'

This video phenomenon was mentioned in a course "Important Issues" thread because of the digital tipping point that the viral "Kony 2012" video has reached. From the standpoint of ed. leadership and technology, this is a major piece of empirical evidence that digital doesn't have to mean ephemeral or without substance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

accessed 3/15/2012

"Kony 2012"

count: 30 pages (30 minutes roughly extrapolated)

This post about the video and the  movement behind it points to the extent of the significant impact it is having around the globe. 

Masses of people, not separated by geopolitical borders but rather linked through social media, can influence national policy, military and foreign policy, and manipulate the hearts and minds of millions of people. 

How can one NOT agree with the sentiment that ""where you live shouldn't determine whether you live" ?

However, I found the comment from Maria Sebastian (Kony 2012: The dangers of misinformation published March 15, 2012 at The Collegian, the University of Richmond's independent student newspaper to be an important one to hear:

• A... danger of Kony 2012 is simply the rapid spread of misinformation. If your only source of knowledge on this 26-year conflict is a YouTube video, you might want to research more before jumping on the IC bandwagon.

textbook reading: "Educational technology for school leaders"

Just to include the course textbook readings in this (highly) nonexperimental semester page count, I'll record the pages read in Educational Technology for School Leaders, edited by Lynne Schrum (Corwin Press, 2012)

As of Feb 29 due date for Textbook Reading Chunk 1, count: 76 pages

These chapters are reprised at http://textbookreadings.jimdo.com/

book: "The principal's guide to a powerful library media program"

The principal's guide to a powerful library media program

by Marla W. McGhee and Barbara A. Jansen

Linworth Books, 2004

count: 139 pages

I am tremendously impressed with this book: I finished it during Spring Break, as I was on my way to interview for a Library Director position -- with an administrator who is asking the right questions about improving his library. 

The book gave clear expression to some of my deepest thoughts and opinions: such as the upfront straight-forward acknowledgment that "The problem is that it is not always the case that school administrators do [understand the actual and potential impact of the library ... in the teaching-learning process]" (p. xvii) Fortunately the authors proceed to clearly and effectively manage to succinctly and effectively present what principals OUGHT to know.

The book lays out the role of the principal or school administrator in implementing and supporting a strong library program. And the authors acknowledge that principals often impede learning on their campus by their ignorance.

The authors also clearly delineate the priorities and responsibilities of the library and the librarian. I particularly appreciate the graphic of the spectrum for more or less time to be spent on specified responsibilities.

I thought this a great book -- one I immediately wanted to purchase, highlight, and give to my administrator friend. 

Until I saw the list price for this paper back from Linworth. Ouch.
 

book: "Preventing death by lecture!"

Preventing Death By Lecture!
by Sharon Bowman

self-published by Bowperson Publishing, 2001

count: 96 pages

Another title recommended by Ty at both of the last two class meetings (Feb and March) -- so I looked this up and read through it quickly.

The tips provided through the book are of varying impact, but the overall premise is sound: 

• We should change the nature of our traditional teaching-by-lecture every 10 to 20 minutes with something that draws listeners in and makes them participants rather than passive sitters.
  
• People only remember about 20% of what they hear; so give them ways to apply, question, respond, move, and deepen what you present to them.

Good book, quick read -- some of the tips are good enough to stick with me.

Scoop.it page: "Information Powerhouses" by L. Sheneman

One of the  newer buzz sites I've found is Scoop.it, a Web 2.0 site whose first tag line to visitors is "Easily Publish Gorgeous Magazines; Leverage Curation to increase your visibility. Gve persistence to your social media presence."  (http://www.scoop.it/)

Count: 3 pages


This intriguing site uses the "freemium" business model (see Anderson's Free: The Future of a Radical Price which I have begun) where 95% of the traffic is using the free version of the technology and the other 5% pays for upgraded services that support the entire enterprise.

So I kept skipping around Scoop.it -- I mean, how can you trust a web site that doesn't have a familiar domain?  (such as .gov, or .edu, or even .org or .com) But this week I was caught by a significant Texas state library persona using one of her Scoop.it pages in her signature, and I thought I'd check it out.

http://www.scoop.it/t/information-powerhouses is Laura Sheneman's way of "curating" (there's that word, again) thoughts, articles, news items, tweets, and resources on the topic of 21st Century School Libraries. I experienced the "magazine" effect that the company boasts: it is a hyper-text table of contents to a diverse miscellany of related threads. I grabbed one of the items, "Bloom's Taxonomy of Apps," and off I went reading.

online article: "The Waterbed Effect in K-12 Education"

Thanks to my compadre Ty, I enjoyed this article which nails down with great precision the challenges that are resulting from changes in education with technology as the catalyst. Great thinking.

"The Waterbed Effect in K-12 Education"
by Geoffrey H. Fletcher
T.H.E. Journal (Transforming Education through Technology)
01/04/12

http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/01/04/the-waterbed-effect-in-k12-education.aspx?sc_lang=en

Count: 3 pages

The reference to the waterbed is in contrast to what happens when pressure is put on a feather bed: localized, limited impact on the featherbed, but for a waterbed, pressure results in the "entire waterbed [being] affected in multiple ways. Every action is connected to, and affected by, every other action" (para. 2).

The analogy is apt, and Fletcher's point is well-taken: we must view the confluence of major changes in education today as part of the whole bed: the pressures must be managed holistically and in recognition of the various aspects of that pressure.

I found the identification of pressures to be helpful:

• a content shift from print to digital in general but in particular, with textbooks; 
• the assessment shift from print to digital 
• professional development is also shifting platforms from face-to-face, or "seat time," to online and digitally-accessible information and colleagues
• Each of these reflect the massive change in the infrastructure of technology itself.

I would love to see more discussion on these four aspects. But even by itself, this article is helpful. Thanks for sharing, Ty.